Moderator

While many people say leads are dead with the advent of Team Preview, this is anything but the truth. People still like having hazards, screens, SmashPassers, weather inducers, and more in the lead position. This thread is to talk about common leads and post your creative lead movesets

Resources to check out:

A question on what to lead with was asked by cim in the SQSA thread. You can check out posts by Thorhammer, me, and Jimera0 for some insight on what a good lead is in BW.

The OU lead statistics can help you determine what people use for leads:

Hide(Move your mouse to the hide area to reveal the content)Show HideHide Hide

Deoxys-D is a slightly controversial and fairly common lead Pokemon. This set is excellent on any HO team. You can literally use this Deoxys-D + 5 sweepers and have yourself a team. This thing destroys spinners like nobody's business, with Psycho Boost OHKOing Tentacruel and 2HKOing Donphan. The last move is for hitting either Forretress (and I guess Ferrothorn) or Starmie, which HP Fire for the former and Thunderbolt for the latter. As it can beat the common spinners, setting up hazards isn't very hard, although this set is nowhere near as bulky as others. Gengar makes an excellent partner, as it appreciates the hazards because of the switches it forces with Disable, but more importantly, Gengar can spinblock. This set is made for HO, so use it on it. Oh yeah and don't use the gems on-site, Life Orb is way better. Don't let its disappointing base 70 Special Attack fool you, Psycho Boost hits HARD. The only thing that really stops this from setting up hazards is faster Taunt and Magic Bounce. A great strategy to use against it is to let it die, as it is a suicide lead, and bring out your spinner later after Deoxys-D is dead. Looking at the lead statistics, Tyranitar and Genesect seem to be pretty much the only common leads stopping it from getting up at least SR + 1 layer of Spikes, which is often more than enough. Deoxys-D does exceptionally well against Ferrothorn and Forretress leads with HP Fire, and it can even run Thunder to smack Politoed leads. Overall, this Deoxys-D set is much rarer than the common Fast Spiker, but it can be absolutely devastating with the right partners.

I've got a Dragonite in lead position, more or less arbitrarily. If I see a Genesect in the opposing team preview, I leave it there. Game starts, I shrug off the Ice Beam with Marvel Scale and KO back with Fire Punch. It's a freak trick, but it's surprisingly effective. When I use to run a Sun team back in BW1, I had a Lilligant in first position--spec'd to KO opposing lead Politoed's with Leaf Storm, allowing me to control the weather for the rest of the match. Again, somewhat gimmicky, but effective.

This sort of tomfoolery certainly would not go unnoticed if I had placed these guys anywhere but first position and moved them to the start during team preview. It'd be suspect, people would be more wary. Playing guileless is a great way to get ahead early, in a relatively changed metagame where "traditional" leads tend to be more of a hindrance than a help.

I don't see any DPP suicide leads even rating a mention, while what we have got is the weather bratpack (a holdover from last gen), some bulky hazards users (Forretress, Deoxys, Ferrothorn) and also Rotom-W (?). Would anyone care to explain that last one? I'm guessing it's got something to do with Volt Switch, but R-W is almost twice as likely to lead as rough physical analogue Scizor.

Rotom-W makes such a great candidate for that lead position because of its coverage and unpredictability off the bat (the latter is significantly reduced after that first turn once you can make an educated guess at what set it is running). Volt Switch lets you scout and do some nice stab damage - which ground types won't usually try to block in fear of being drowned by a HydroPump. Once you see the Volt Switch it would not be unwise to assume they are running specs or scarf (but then you have to guess which one before risking being revenged later in the game).

Unfortunately, the bloody washing machine also has the ungodly ability to spread burns, crippling switch ins to its high powered attacks from the first turn of the game if you incorrectly predict a choiced variant.

The reason why I chose Celebi as lead is because many common leads, such as Politoed, Hippowdon, Rotom-W, Scizor, Ferrothorn and Forretress are weak to it's moves, and this is not even having to make a dedicated anti-lead set. Also, the opponent is never going to know if this is another set. Their Politoed, for example, is risking taking a Leaf Storm in the face and instantly dying, letting me win the weather war. Ah if I had this move... But it has bad synergy with Nasty Plot. Regardless, if Politoed stays, Celebi is more than capable of nabbing a Nasty Plot boost, tanking an Ice Beam, and OHKOing Politoed with Giga Drain or the switch-in with the appropriate coverage move.

Celebi may be very rare and questionable as a good lead, but I can guarantee, it does well in that position.

Tornadus-T makes a fantastic lead, packing Hurricane, Taunt, U-turn, and regenerator. I use focus blast as the coverage move, decimating Ttars that stay in to set up rocks.

Taunt is what makes it shine, especially against Deoxys-D, Azelf, and other fast hazard setters. The one it misses out on is Aerodactyl, which is very rarely seen nowadays. If I have a bad matchup, I can u-turn out to a check or counter. Giving Gene an attack boost also ensures ice beam is not a ko, allowing me to u-turn against it and regenerate the health lost, safe in the knowledge that its a scarf set.

Arguably one of the greatest additions from B/W2, introducing Genesect, a common Pokemon and lead among offensive teams. Genesect can instantly apply pressure against any team thanks to Download, forcing multiple switches thanks to it's brilliant offensive stats and movepool, and the opponent having to figure out what set Genesect is running the hard way. Genesect instantly grabs the momentum and does well against the most common leads. It heavily pressures common users of Stealth Rock such as Ferrothorn, Forretress and Deoxys-D, maybe even making them switch thus preventing Stealth Rock on your side of the field. Genesect really is a staple among the most common offensive teams in today's metagame and can perfectly fit into any team archetype.

Azelf is a really good suicide lead for offensive teams, because unlike Deo-D you actually got some punch behind your attacks and taunt isn't turning you into complete set-up bait. its also one of the fastest Pokemon in OU so setting up hazards is really easy early in the game.
Azelf also checks every fighting type due to its excellent 115 base speed that allows him to out speed and KO every non-scarfed/boosted fighter in OU.
I have used this set really often and it is great if you want SR right from the start of the match, because outside of prankster taunt no common taunt user outspeeds it while being able to destroy every Rapid Spinner (outside of starmie, unless you run Shadowball+LO) in OU.
Focus Sash was my prefered item as it virtually guarantees you SR from turn one and is useful against set-up sweepers (namely D-Nite/Volcarona/Salamence) to get at least one hit in after setting up SR especially if you don't run taunt.
However Life Orb is just as good as almost nothing that can straight out OHKO you is actually faster than you and it provides a nice power boost to act as a sweeper later in the game should you survive setting up SR.
The last move slot is somewhat difficult U-Turn is obviously always great especially as a lead and does some damage against Lati@s/Hydreigon/Ttar who wall your other two attacks. Taunt prevents set-up and is also a solid choice for a lead Pokemon. HP Fighting is obviously for TTar and Heatran (and Hydreigon to a lesser extent), all of them are common switch-ins, however it should primarly be used with LO as you otherwise miss the 2HKO on offensive Heatran. Shadow Ball is for Lati@s, Starmie, Reuniclus and Slowbro it rounds out the coverage pretty well and is nice with LO.
Thunder is also an option if you want to get rid of politoed right from the start as almost no one expects it definetelly use with focus sash though as Scarftoed otherwise destroys you and you only got a 12% chance to OHKO 252/0 Toed even with LO.

Psyshock vs. Psychic is difficult Psyshock hits Keldeo harder after it used CM making revenge killing it a lot easier, it also allows you to 2HKO a Volcarona that tries to set-up on you, but psychics higher base power is often very useful and it allows you to 2HKO Donphan/Gliscor/Hippowdon with LO.

Choice scarf pokes in general are good to lead with. Most use moves like U-turn or Volt switch, so they can easily switch to a counter or check, break a sash or something like it, and keep offensive pressure and momentum. On my current team, Landorus-T has been my go to when in doubt:

Has U-turn for quick get away, strong 145 attack to scare things out, and very good at countering physical leads such as Tyranitar(thanks to intimidate), being able to damage him heavily with U-turn, or simply take him out of the match with earthquake, if he decides to stay in. By that logic, he would make a great lead for sun teams.

Choice scarf pokes in general are good to lead with. Most use moves like U-turn or Volt switch, so they can easily switch to a counter or check, break a sash or something like it, and keep offensive pressure and momentum.

Click to expand...

IMO leading with a Scarfer is a bad idea. Picking a wrong move with a weak Scarfer is easily punishable and you do not want to be behind right from turn 2. This leaves U-turn/Volt-Switch as your only options. U-turn/Volt Switch is good for getting a good matchup in case you messed up on your team preview choice, not scouting, but it is really predictable. That's why bulky Rotom-W IMO is much better lead than Scarf. It can spread burns early game to increase residual damage/neuter the opponent but it can hit the opponent with a variety of options instead of making it a guessing game from Turn 1. It still has the freedom to Volt-Switch after Turn 1 too.

A good lead should put the opponent at a disadvantage from turn one. U-turn/Volt-Switch does this to a certain extent by giving you good matchup, but compared to some other option it is manageable/not as "devastating" to the opponent. Really though you lead with what has the best matchup against the opponent's team or the best matchup against the Poke who has the best matchup against your team (that's a mouthful). Let me show some of my favorite leads to put it into perspective:

This is a great stop to all of the Techniloom leads. Intimidate>Moxie since it makes switching in latter in the game a lot easier and weakens leads who use physical attacks to take down targets. It really pushes pressure on the opponent to attack if they have a Scarfer out or just switch out to their Steel type. It really is fantastic for weakening the opponent early game since it can pretty much hit everything hard. Many teams rely on their Steel-types to take the brunt of attacks/be the defensive pivot for their team and if you get the chance to remove them with Salamence the rewards will pay off later in the match.

Like Salamence, Terrakion is a monster when it comes to weakening the opposition early game. However, unlike Salamence, Terrakion has the ability to set up Stealth Rock. No Magic Bouncer or Taunt user is going to dare stay in against Terrakion, so you can get the Stealth Rock off very easily. The last slot you can run whatever the heck you want to get the advantage over the opposition. Taunt is a very underrated option on Terrakion since it can stop Deoxys-D or any other poke from setting up. However, Swords Dance is a really nice option to potentially put on more pain on the opponent. I would pair this with a spinblocker though (aka Gengar to stop Gliscor) since if they have a spinner it could be difficult to set up SR again latter in the game.

A different approach to leading. Ferrothorn can take a lot hits and setup against a lot of defensive Pokes. That gives an opening for early Spikes to make sure your opponent can't switch as often as you can. Protect+Leech Seed is important to scout for random Fire moves and more importantly, to make sure you don't get punished for wearing down your own Ferrothorn early in the game. Leech Seed is nice for bringing in your next Pokemon much more easily because it gets recovery. Power Whip is to hit those Rotom-W's, Politoed's, and Ttar's hard. What I also like is Iron Barbs hurting any U-turn'ers after you scout with protect.

IMO leading with a Scarfer is a bad idea. Picking a wrong move with a weak Scarfer is easily punishable and you do not want to be behind right from turn 2. This leaves U-turn/Volt-Switch as your only options. U-turn/Volt Switch is good for getting a good matchup in case you messed up on your team preview choice, not scouting, but it is really predictable. That's why bulky Rotom-W IMO is much better lead than Scarf. It can spread burns early game to increase residual damage/neuter the opponent but it can hit the opponent with a variety of options instead of making it a guessing game from Turn 1. It still has the freedom to Volt-Switch after Turn 1 too.

Click to expand...

That does depend on what scarfer you're using though. Not many people use weak scarfers in OU, Genesect, or something like that, provides excellent pressure against the opponent, scarfed or not. Though of course, it can backfire, the same can be said for your opponent. And it's not like you lead with a scarf poke every time :P.

While I can't say I've ever used it (or wanted to use it), Machamp is an effective lead, having a fair amount of bulk and a 100% accurate Dynamicpunch. If you've ever been the target of full parahax, it's like that, but you hurt yourself. Tornadus-T counters it as a lead though due to No Guard affecting all moves used in battle in singles (even in Sun, it makes Hurricane 100% accurate!).

This set works on pretty much any team and is great for dealing with offensive leads. I don't need to explain this set that much but one thing I gotta note is that if you're gonna deal with an offensive lead than you won't be able to get your rocks up, so I recommend to have another SR user on your team.

Terrakion is incredibly difficult to switch into. With substitute easing prediction and sometimes giving you a free turn it can take out multiple pokemon. One of the best parts about it is that it matches up great with opposing Genesect leads.

Moderator

IMO leading with a Scarfer is a bad idea. Picking a wrong move with a weak Scarfer is easily punishable and you do not want to be behind right from turn 2. This leaves U-turn/Volt-Switch as your only options.

Click to expand...

This can swing both ways, while messing up at the start may set the tone for the entire battle, it also gives you the longest period of time to recovery, as opposed to screwing up in the last few turns. What Genesect DOES have going for him is that he has become in the minds of the general public a U-Turn spammer and not much else, to the point at which you can play on your opponent's false prediction of Genesect's movements and use something else backed up by his high base attack stats. While I personally prefer Ebelt, underestimating the power of Scarf Genesect to catch you by surprise and severely dent your team is not advisable.

This is a great lead I tried out on a rain team, I've had taylor dent my team so much with it on the ladder and then a friend suggested to use it I finally gave it a shot and it did me wonders in the lead position. The fact that Terrakion can cause an insane amount of switches already make it a great offensive user of Stealth Rock because it's so easy to set up even without the sash, sash just makes stuff even better.It's probably the best lead I have used against Sand, being able to scare a bunch of stuff out and either SD or SR or just dents something with the wonderful STAB. It does really good vs Sun too hurting the likes of Volcarona, Ninetales, Genesect and alot of the times even Dugtrio that try to trap me but then see my sash (I really only keep it in when I expect a Dugtrio if I have SR up myself) . If you can manage to preserve the sash with Rapid Spin or Magic Bounce support this thing can do some real damage late game as a fantastic sweeper with Swords Dance.Give this thing a try.

This thing is a great supporter and passer- if it gets behind a Sub, there's no forcing it out (bar Perish Song) It's amazing ability middle fingers a lot of stall and hazard leads, buying switch time to set up and pass. It's great speed and monstrous special attack allow it to even sweep, and it dgaf Pursuit. A real team player.

Of the leads listed here, Sableye cripples, puts a stop to, or at least forces a switch from the following: Terrakion, Espeon (which is hit by Foul Play), Mamoswine, Machamp, Ferrothorn, Salamence (the physical moves, anyway), Landorus-T, Azelf (Rock-blocks), Genesect (U-turn crippling, as well as adding residual damage to wear it down), and Deoxys-D. That's all but 1 here, which is Celebi, who heals off Foul Play damage with Giga Drain.

Sableye puts an end to all hazard-setter leads, barring those with Mental Herb or Magic Coat (lookin' at you Deoxys-D). Sableye also halts riskier leads like Cloyster and Volcarona from setting up turn 1, and freezes non-Mental-Herb Ninjask in it's speedy little tracks. Stall teams leading with Forretress, as I've seen them commonly do, are put to a fullstop turn 1; putting stall to a fullstop is a handy trick of Sableye's in general. Throwing around burns adds boatloads of residual damage to teams all over the place, especially in conjunction with Stealth Rock switches, Spikes if you have it, and abilities like Ferrrothorn's and Garchomp's to make contact-hitters truly suffer. Burns also hurt Tyranitar and Hippowdon's attacks, and the overall lifetime of those two plus Politoed, making Sableye great for Sun teams. Breloom is left not knowing what to do against Sableye as well; should it Spore with the possibility of priority Taunt, or attack with the possibility of a priority burn?

If you know what you're doing, or want a little awesome on turn one, look no further than our favorite little ghost goblin.

Kick every other leads. Mienshao is the best i think.
Well this my though
Mienshao
Naive Nature
Ability: Regenerator
252 Attack/4 Special Attack/252 Speed
Item: Life Orb
Moves:
Fake Out
Hi Jump Kick
Hidden Power Ice
U-turn

Well is simple. Fake out to proof if the pokemon has a focus sash, ...make damage. Hi Jump Kick is for annihilate a lot of things with STAB and a big base power. Hidden power ice Oh shit this is cool. First, a lot of persons think that mienshao will have Stone edge for Gyarados or some flyings, but no. Second,Hidden Power Ice can be used, because Mienshao's special attack base isn't bad and third, Hidden Power Ice OHKO a lot of times to overconfidence gliscor, salamence,etc and jumpluff ok no xD. is bad to dragonite with multiscale; U-turn is for scout and make a hard damage to grass type like celebi, dark types like known zoroarks, etc. If you want your Stone Edge, well, change it for HPI. Regenerator for well.. regenerate health then a hard battle in a round, and a good mix with u-turn.

Ah!.. i suggest like partner a scizor, cause this boy can eliminate gengars, alakazams those overspeed mienshao and can support psychic moves. It's All.

Looks stupid, but works, especially on HO teams focused on getting Sand and hazards up quickly. Essentially sets up rocks, dishes out a couple of hits, and dies. EVs are fun as max speed Tyranitar outspeeds your generic Adamant Breloom which dies to Ice Punch. Stone Edge kills off cocky Superpower Tornadus-T and the like, and provides a nice strong STAB, while Low Kick has 120 Base Power vs. opposing Tyranitar, 100 against Heatran and Magnezone, etc., with the added benefit of not dropping your stats whenever you use it. Kind of a strange set, but well worth a try.

He's my soild lead on my current rain team. Volt Switch hits hard and it gets it right out. It works really well with Glicsore, or even Bronzong. After the rain is up its pretty much mash the "win button" (aka Thunder). Its kinda like the "scarfed Landerous" of a rain team. Signal Beam is for T-Tar as well as the Phycs running around. The best part about Jolteon, is that after rocks dammage it can out pace and OHKO Thunderous-T with HP- Ice. It also out paces Tornadus- T baring scarfed varents. I feel as thought Jolteon s very over looked in terms of a Special sweeper.

Cobalion is a great lead, and one that few people recognize as a threat. A fast Taunt prevents yourself from being set up on, and then you can pummel the opponent with a CC or scout their switch in by VoltSwitching. Cobalion's awesome natural bulk and great typing allow it to fare excellently against almost every common OU lead (inducers, hazarders, and set up sweepers) Hidden Power Ice hits Gliscor, Landorus, and Dragon types hard- and when coupled with an expert belt, has no trouble OHKO'ing dragons that don't invest in defense. Close Combat destroys most steel type leads, and Volt Switch allows you to beat the rest of them. SR can also be used instead of Taunt.